Michael Dervan reviews the Lyric Opera's production Puccini's La bohème at the National Concert Hall, Dublin

The Lyric Opera company, which presents its productions on the stage of the National Concert Hall rather than in a theatre, has undergone interesting transformations over the years. Their first Traviata, conducted by the late Albert Rosen in 1996, was a decidedly minimalist affair. The members of the chorus were placed as for a concert performance, rooted to their spot at the back of the platform, with the orchestra just in front of them. The singers negotiated a small space at the front, with only a few pieces of necessary furniture rather than an actual set.

The company has since adopted more conventional orchestral placement. The musicians play on the floor of the auditorium, in front of the platform, allowing conductors and singers to hear each other from the expected locations and make judgements of musical balance accordingly. There was a time when the members of the Lyric chorus were garbed plain black. For the company's new production of Puccini's La bohème, the chorus was both fully costumed and involved in the stage action.

The orchestra remains a small one; although without a pit to contain its volume it's still collectively strong enough to pose occasional balance problems for the singers. The playing under David Jones on Saturday was sometimes rather too stiff and revealed a recurring unevenness of strength and unanimity in the strings. La bohème is an opera which demands a strong sense of vocal and dramatic ensemble. Vivian Coates's direction certainly had its moments of bustle and energy, but the personal interplay was rarely that sharp or engaging. John O'Donoghue's set was visually evocative but physically rather awkward.

The strongest characterisations came from Fiona O'Neill, who provided the evening's most affecting moments as Mimì, and Sandra Oman, who was vocally restrained as Musetta, but otherwise did rather camp things up too much. The Rodolfo, José Pazos, was more in the groove for his big moments than for his comedic banter, where he often sounded slack and off the note, and among the other bohemians it was the Colline of Gerard O'Connor who proved most rewarding.

Ends tonight